Drabbles: Defining Honor (PG; AtLA)

[jedibuttercup]

PG; Avatar: the Last Airbender. Reaction drabbles #8. Through 3.2 "The Headband".

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Taking Responsibility

Aang knew Sokka and the others were right. The rumors of his death were a serious advantage. And he was kind of risking that, enrolling in a Fire Nation school, however temporarily.

But-- he'd felt bad enough before, just not being there when his people died. Now-- he's failed another people who were depending on him. However much he'd never wanted the role, he's finally started to adjust to it; the world needs the Avatar, and he feels like he's failing them again by remaining in hiding.

He has to do something, even if only opening a few kids' minds.

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Owning Up To It

Zuko's not sure why he didn't tell his sister about the oasis water when he had the chance. Not that it would have made much difference; Azula would probably still have shared the glory as some kind of contingency measure. But if the Avatar has survived--

Strange, that hunting the airbender again has settled Zuko's nerves in ways that coming home had not. He's redeemed himself; his father says so, at last. So why does the itch persist under his skin? Why do Uncle's silences fill his heart with ash?

Zuko understands less and less as the days pass by.

Comments

[anotherdreamer5.livejournal.com]

Okay, I said in an earlier comment that Aang's lack of growth in the series was my biggest issue, and yet here you show him really growing. From the kid who wanted to hide behind being twelve, to the one who admits his sense of guilt about not being there for his being, his desire to not hide again. I really, really liked that.

And then, of course, this:

Strange, that hunting the airbender again has settled Zuko's nerves in ways that coming home had not. He's redeemed himself; his father says so, at last. So why does the itch persist under his skin? Why do Uncle's silences fill his heart with ash?

I just LOVED. Zuko got everything he thought he wanted and yet it is the life on the sea, hunting that he wants back now that he's home. He's restless, unsettled, and doesn't know why. He doesn't even understand why his father saying he has his honor back doesn't mean anything to him, not as much as his uncle's silence does. I LOVE that.

[jedibuttercup]

I like taking things that don't make sense at face value and making them make internal sense, like that bit with Aang. Because I *facepalm*ed so often, but he obviously thought he was doing the right thing, so I had to explore it a little. =)

Aah, and Zuko. By this point? Totally my favorite character on the show. Just as blind, most of the time, but in ways I understood much better.

[anotherdreamer5.livejournal.com]

I understood Zuko infinitely more than Aang. Zuko was a child with principals who was unable to just sit on them. He was burned in teh agni kai the first time beacuse he didn't want to send soldiers off to die. He said something because internally, he instinctively thought the plan was bad. The problem with him was that he lacked the ability to understand why someone else woudln't see it his way. He was so utterly himself that he could never (not really) understand others.

Aang was so opposite. He understood others just fine. It was himself he didn't get. Why he had run away, why he had that power. He was liquid and wind and change. Earth was his most difficult element, the one that would have him standing stubbornly for something (the way Zuko naturally is). I completely understood why Toph and Zuko could identify with each other quicker than anyone else.

And Katara, too. I think she saw bits of herself in Zuko that she never saw in Aang. She was stubborn, too.